Australian GP 2019: Analysing the Ferrari Debut of Charles LeClerc

Before he even sat behind the F1 car, fans had already delivered the verdict on Charles Leclerc.

“He’d do his best, beat everyone and would win his very first race!”

The fan, in this era of instant opinion generation almost always wears the hat of an expert (a self-titled expert at that)!

But that said, what did we see toward the conclusion of the 58-lap contest at Melbourne?

In securing a P5, a respectable finish for a Ferrari first-timer, what are your thoughts on Leclerc’s maiden Ferrari run?

The opening race of the season, does, after all, beg a question: did Charles Leclerc do miserably bad in his very first Grand Prix for Ferrari or in finishing fourth, right behind the experienced Vettel, he managed just fine?

Charles LeClerc

Who’s to know what is right and wrong. But here’s something that can be said for certain.

In an age no stranger to mobilization of opinions based on social media views, it anyways isn’t any hard to separate conjecture from actuality or say, reality from fiction.

Correct?

And in any sport, a young talent almost always draws the attention from every quarter. And when there’s someone like Charles Leclerc present in the pinnacle of F1 racing, someone who was close to and mentored by the late Jules Bianchi, the Frenchman being a driver who lifted Sauber to some memorable performances for much of 2018, the hype surrounding the Frenchman cannot be called unjustifiable.

At the same time, with 20 races lying ahead of him, what can the young Ferrari driver do to revive fortunes for the sport’s most famous (or iconic) stable, one wonders?

Here’s a bit of a perspective if one were to take cognizance of Leclerc’s Melbourne performance.

While Bottas, the race leader beat Hamilton by a margin as lofty as over 22 seconds over his British teammate, Charles Leclerc, finished over 58 seconds off from the Finn.

But while the above might sufficiently underline the clear lap of pace from Ferrari, the eternal optimist may want to see the biggest gain, something that would add to the French driver’s confidence.

How often does a Ferrari debutant manage 10 valuable points whilst competing against such big names in his very first race?

Charles, it ought to be said, could well have the best ahead of him. While the likes of Ricciardo failed to finish and Raikkonen couldn’t gather over P9, isn’t Leclerc’s performance worthy of some respect?